


In a City of Fools (I Was Careful)

by AestuumMaris



Category: Batman (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Brotherly Love, DynamicDuoWeek 2016, Family Bonding, Fluff, Gen, Gunshot Wounds, Strong Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-12
Updated: 2016-08-12
Packaged: 2018-08-08 06:39:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7747021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AestuumMaris/pseuds/AestuumMaris
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Damian hums and lifts his hand briefly, but he doesn’t open his eyes.</p><p>“Hey. Hey!” Jason presses his hand onto Damian’s wound, hard. “Don’t flake out on me now, you little shit. If you die, I’m gonna kill you, and then Nightwing’s gonna make my life hell for letting you die on my watch."</p>
            </blockquote>





	In a City of Fools (I Was Careful)

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Day 4 of Dynamic Duo Week 2016. Jason is nosy, mouthy little brat who forced his way into my story and began swearing up a storm, but I love him anyway.

“You little brat. You just live to irritate me, don’t you?”

In true Bat fashion, Damian’s only answer is a grunt, hand pressed firmly to the clumsily bandaged bullet hole in his side. Jason rolls his eyes behind his helmet and picks up Damian by the back of his hood, evading his sluggish one handed attempts to fend him off.

“If you don’t behave I’m gonna sedate you,” Jason threatens good-naturedly. With his free hand he accesses his comm. “Hey Dickface, I’ve got something that belongs to you.” Damian thrashes weakly and Jason gives him a little shake.

“Quiet, Demon, the grown-ups are talking.” He presses his comm again, frowning. “Nightwing. Robin’s hurt. In my territory. Get your ass over here.”

Nothing.

“Replacement? Bats? Spoiler? Where the fuck are you?”

Still nothing.

“Oracle? Can anyone hear me?”

Silence.

Jason releases an explosive sigh. “Screw this. I guess I’m stuck with you, Mephistopheles. Let’s go.” Damian— _again—_ grunts. It’s freaking Jason out. Damian doesn’t just _let_ people manhandle him. The fact that he hasn’t tried to bite, kick, stab, or otherwise maim Jason is honestly much more worrying than the monosyllabic responses.

Jason hoists his unsettlingly still cargo onto his back and fires his grapple gun at the next roof. His mind races on autopilot, mapping out paths to his nearest safe houses and automatically correcting his path to the closest one.

Damian finally works up the energy to talk. Of course, it’s utterly useless and punctuated by frequent pauses: “Put me down, Todd, this i—” his body heaves, taking in a shaky breath, “this is humiliating. I can head back to the—agh!” Damian cries out as Jason pulls him more firmly onto his back. “I can—I can head back to rendezvous point by myself.”

“You’re wasting your breath, Babybird. If you think I’m gonna let you wander around Gotham with a fucking bullet wound and no comm, you’re out of your damn mind. Now shut up and let me think. ”

Damian doesn’t put up so much as a token struggle, just slumps against him. Jason picks up his pace.

A thought, or a memory, stops him. Or it would if he wasn’t swinging between two rooftops. “Damian?”

“Hm?”

“Did B give you an extra comm?”

“Yes.”

Jason curses and stumbles as he lands on the rooftop. He unslings Damian from his back, lays him on the roof, and grabs his belt.

“Where’s the comm?” He shakes the belt. “There’s a million compartments on these things.”

Damian hums and lifts his hand briefly, but he doesn’t open his eyes.

“Hey. Hey!” Jason presses his hand onto Damian’s wound, _hard_. “Don’t flake out on me now, you little shit. If you die, I’m gonna kill you, and then Nightwing’s gonna make my life hell for letting you die on my watch. Where is your damn comm unit, Robin?”

Damian reaches toward a compartment on his left side fumbles to open it. Jason bats his hand away and yanks open the compartment, tearing through it in search of the comm. His hand lands on it and he snatches it up, sticking it in his ear.

“Red Hood to all points, Robin’s about to fucking die. _Come in_ , dammit!” The comm instantly crackles to life as a company of vigilantes shout into his ear before being suddenly silenced.

“Red Hood, this is Oracle. Status and location.”

“A couple buildings north of the Amusement Mile. Robin’s bullet wound is field dressed but he’s lost a lot of blood.”

A brief pause, and then,

“Nightwing’s on his way. ETA three minutes.”

“Got it. Tell him to hurry up.” Jason returns his attention to Damian. “Hey. You hear that, you little gremlin? Goldie’s on his way. Just hang on until then, okay?”

“Tt. This is unnecessary. I’m fine.” Damian mumbles, eyes closed, lying on his back, leaking blood.

“Sure you are, sport.”

Jason tears his eyes from the too-pale boy in front of him, scanning the rooftops for a flash of blue—

“ _Robin_!”

—and there he is.

“Over here, Nightwing!”

Nightwing flies over and flips onto the roof.

“Dami. Damian, can you hear me?” He touches the boy’s face gently, then gathers him into his arms. He turns to Jason. “I’m taking him to Leslie’s.”

Jason shakes his head, crosses his arms, looks away. “My safehouse is closer. I’ve got blood packs. We can do a transfusion there.”

“Fine,” Nightwing snaps. “Lead the way.” He grips Damian tightly, looking for all the world like a ferocious mama bear. Jason would laugh, but there’s an emergency. He can make fun of Dick, he thinks as he leaps from the building, once the little brat has recovered. Which he will. Dying twice before you even hit your teen years is unacceptable. Bats bounce back better than that.

When their little procession reaches his safe houses, he blocks Dick’s view of the lock as he disables his many, many traps.

“Hurry it up, Hood,” Dick barks at him. “He’s unresponsive.”

Jason ignores him, and taps out the final passcode. “Get in,” he says, but Dick has already shoved past him.

By the time Jason finishes locking the door back up--don’t judge him, he’s got reasons to be prepared in this neighbourhood--Dick has already laid Damian on a cot, cleaned the wound, started the transfusion, and yanked a chair over to Damian’s bedside.

“Sure, make yourself at home,” Jason mutters. He raises his voice, “He need anything else, Dickster?”

Dick waves him off without taking his eyes from the child on the cot. Jason figures he might as well update the rest of the Bats, unless he wants them to bang his damn door down.

* * *

 

Dick barely registers Jason leaving the room. His eyes are glued to the rise and fall of Damian’s chest.

“You’re gonna be okay, little D. You weren’t unconscious for too long, you know, and you’ve been breathing nice and deep. You’ll be fine, buddy, your blood pressure’s getting back up.” Dick glances up at Damian’s still face. At some point he’d grabbed his boy’s hand and he can’t let it go now.

“You know it’s been long enough, Damian. You can wake up now.” Damian’s eyelashes flutter. Dick leans in. “Damian? Can you hear me?”

Damian takes a breath.

And another.

And his eyes don’t open.

Dick sighs, and squeezes Damian’s hand. “Okay buddy. Take your time.” He sighs again and rests his forehead on their clasped hands.

“It’s just...I can’t let you die in front of me. Not again. I don’t think I’d survive it this time, Dami.” He laughs humorlessly, swiping at his face. “Can you even imagine what Bruce would say? He might not speak to me ever again, actually. So, you know, if you want us to ever work together again, you have to wake up.” He peers at Damian again. “Please. Damian, please wake up for me.” Dick squeezes his eyes shut, afraid if he opens them he’ll see nothing but Damian’s pale, unmoving body.

“Tt. You’re...a sap, Grayson.” Dick’s head snaps up as a tiny hand squeezes his.

“You’re awake!” Dick laughs, his shoulders dropping as tension seeps out of them.

“Obviously.”

Dick, still smiling, says, “You are never allowed to that again. So help me I will steal you from Bruce and take you to Bludhaven if you get anywhere close to Black Mask without backup again.”

“You’re overreacting, Grayson,” Damian coughs. “I’m perfectly unharmed.” He tries to sit up, groans, and gives up.

“Sure you are, little D.” Dick reaches over and engulfs him in a hug, avoiding the bullet wound. “But I’m still keeping an eye on you.”

Damian clicks his tongue, but he can’t help the pleased tilt to his mouth. “Whatever, Grayson.”

“I believe you mean ‘Whatever _you say_ , Grayson’, but I’ll take it.” Dick laughs again. “Hey Jason,” he calls to the closed door. “Damian woke up! He’s alright, little Wing!”

“I heard you the first time, Dickface,” Jason yells back. “Your melodramatic shit is impossible to ignore.”

“Told you,” Damian smirks.

And Dick can’t remember the last time he was so glad to get picked on.

“I love you, too,” he calls to Jason with a desperate grip on Damian.

“I love you both, too.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> The ending is SO CHEESY but so is Dick, so I called it good. My writing blog is commandthetides.tumblr.com. Come say hi!


End file.
